IBMBKC Ch 6

#006

“…Huk!”

In the end, Yua took the extraordinary measure and brought both hands to his own cheeks for a brief moment.

Slap slap!

His small, soft palms hit his cheeks with a crisp sound. His cheeks stung, and Yua wrinkled his nose out of habit.

It seemed that while Yua had nodded off, the children had already finished reading the storybook. As the children began moving to eat lunch, Yua also tried to lift his body up.

“…?”

Correction: he tried to get up, but failed.

If he had just not lowered his head to brace himself on the floor, he would have stood up. This tiny body really wasn’t helpful in any way.

“……”

Yua quietly stared at the thick, fluffy thing his hand had touched. A tawny-striped tail was swaying near his knees.

Am I still half-asleep?

Yua reflexively grabbed the tail he felt in his hand.

“…!”

“Uh…”

“A—ah! Ow!”

“……”

“No, I… I saw Yua s-sleeping….”

“……”

“There was no blanket, so… I was trying to c-cover you….”

That’s what it was, but… His voice grew quieter the further he went on. By the end, the pronunciation was so slurred that Yua barely understood it.

Yua worked his brain.

In other words, the main bottom had tried to find something to cover Yua with, despite Yua not only slacking off in the corner instead of listening to the story, but also falling asleep.

Since there was nothing suitable to cover Yua with, he ended up draping his own tail over him. And when Yua woke up, sprawled out and grabbed the main bottom’s tail, the main bottom hadn’t gotten angry but instead tried to explain himself.

“…?”

Yua recalled the time when he used to cause constant trouble, when most of his escape attempts had failed.

“Seonsaeng-niiim! Yua isn’t taking his nap again and is running away!”

“Oh! Yua, where are you going? What?! The play area?!”

“Yua isn’t eating and is sleeping instead—!”

It was the time when everyone became a public target the moment someone said that doing good deeds would earn praise stickers. In the seven years Yua had lived, he had never felt such betrayal.

Watching the kids receive a tiny pack of chocolate, barely the length of two finger joints, after a week had Yua rolling on the floor. Selling out friends for snacks. Thinking back now, it was truly outrageous.

Anyway. Children were like that. They were beings who would gladly throw away loyalty for immediate gain.

Even without praise stickers, Yua had been sold out plenty of times because of the tempting title of being a “good and admirable child who guides friends to the right path.” He scrunched up his face.

What is with this kid? Is he a pushover?

Even if everything else could be ignored, the main bottom should have gotten angry when Yua grabbed his tail.

Even if it was an accident, among beastfolk, touching someone’s ears or tail carelessly was rude even among family. If a complete stranger did it, it was truly, extraordinarily disrespectful.

Putting aside the fact that the boy in front of him was the novel’s main bottom… across his past life and current one, this was the first time Yua had met someone like this, and the situation was only uncomfortable. He couldn’t understand it.

“…Uh, your tail. Sorry for touching it.”

“…! I-it’s fine,”

If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it—was that the saying? Then the opposite must certainly be, “If you can’t enjoy it, avoid it.” It didn’t matter if that wasn’t quite right. Yua had no intention of staying here and dragging out this uncomfortable situation anyway.

So Yua decided to leave. He at least made sure to apologize properly before running away, so surely that would count as a mitigating factor.

If he says no, well. It can’t be helped.

He wasn’t particularly disappointed. No matter what anyone said, his original goal had been to avoid even stepping on the shadows of the main top and main bottom. Although that plan already seemed ruined, his desire to keep his distance remained unchanged.

Yua had no intention of wedging himself between the main couple and taking on all the distorted aggro meant for the main top and main bottom.

Yua thought that while it might be understandable in the book, where the main bottom didn’t have any close friends other than the main top. But if Yua inserted himself into that space, who knew what would happen? He might end up starring in a hellish game of Russian roulette.

When the main top ran around so fast his feet were practically on fire upon hearing the news that the main bottom was kidnapped, only for the main bottom to come out of the house rubbing his eyes. Or the main top rushing to the party hall after hearing that people were insulting the main bottom, only to find him calmly eating finger food.

In those cases, eight or nine times out of ten, it was the main bottom’s friend who had taken the hit instead. Yua imagined what would happen if he were dragged off by kidnappers in the main bottom’s place.

“Huh? Hyung-nim, this is not the guy.”

“Hey, that is why you should have checked properly before bringing him!”

“Nothing we can do. Should we kill him?”

“Handle it cleanly. If you can’t, stuff him in a drum with cement and toss him into the ocean.”

A cold bead of sweat rolled down Yua’s back. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine anything other than the main top deciding the hassle wasn’t worth it, pretending to search for a bit, then missing the golden time entirely. In Yua’s imagination, the main bottom received the belated obituary and waved a white handkerchief with teary eyes.

“…Absolutely not.”

Before the main bottom even finished speaking, Yua threw himself into the crowd of children heading for lunch.

It was technically cutting in line, but he had done this kind of shameless thing so often that none of the kids cared. Instead, they chattered excitedly, asking where he had been and continuing to talk about the story they had just heard.

“……”

He could feel a hot gaze burning into the back of his head, but Yua pretended not to notice. He shouldn’t have acted ambiguously in the first place when he had promised himself he wouldn’t get involved.

From now on, he really needed to keep his distance. Yua muttered as if making a vow.

He listened to the kids in front of him in line, trying hard to empty his mind.

“What’s for lunch today?”

“Hold on! Uh… Squid radish soup, brown rice, cabbage kimchi, rolled omelet, japchae, and yogurt!”

“I don’t like squid radish soup….”

“Then I’ll eat it for you. In exchange, give me your yogurt and japchae. How about it?”

“Okay!”

Yua stared at the back of the child who had suddenly ended up with only rice, kimchi, and a rolled omelet.

At this rate, won’t he get scammed in the future because he can’t do basic math? It was somehow a little worrying.

“Well, he still has carbs and protein left, so maybe it doesn’t matter…?”

“Huh? What’d you say?”

“Nothing. Oh, we’re moving forward in the line!”

Redirecting the child’s attention quickly, Yua grabbed a tray. No matter what, a Korean could not afford to think about anything else in front of food.

Yua received the food the teachers scooped onto his tray and sat down. He had no intention of continuing this, but true to his past as a little ringleader, kids crowded all around him. The scene was almost like a market. Giving up, Yua lifted his spoon. The noisy chaos left him unable to think unnecessary thoughts, which… wasn’t entirely bad.

Clatter.

“……”

Clatter clatter.

“……”

Clatter clatter clatter, ching!

What was the point of not being able to think? The cause of his troubles was making his presence known so clearly.

Yua set down the spoon he had been using to eat soup.

Across the way, sitting alone, the main bottom had stopped rattling his utensils and was making a tearful face. Judging by the chopsticks on the floor, he must have dropped them while trying to use them. After a moment of trembling his eyes in panic, the main bottom quickly lifted his head.

“……”

“…Hic.”

Why is he looking at me? What does he want?

Meeting the main bottom’s gaze as if he had been waiting for it, Yua, who carried an atmosphere unlike a seven-year-old, and the main bottom, who was unlike a seven-year-old in a completely different way, looked at each other.

Yua really, truly did not want to get any more involved with the main bottom. As the saying goes, a crow-tit that chases a stork ends up tearing its legs^[1]. One should not involve oneself in matters beyond one’s abilities.

A peaceful and stable path. A highly educated small building owner. These were the things Yua wished for in this life.

If he became close to the main bottom, the difficulty level of achieving that would almost certainly skyrocket.

“Huu…”

Judging that no one would help him, the main bottom lowered his head. Ripples formed on the soup in his tray. It looked as if he were crying.

“……”

“What? Yua, what are you looking at? If you aren’t going to eat your japchae, give it to m… is he crying?”

“No, just… Ha…”

I’d rather die than suffer like this. Might as well just die. If this isn’t childcare, then what the hell is it!

Yua pressed a hand to his forehead. Not wanting to get close to him and leaving a crying kid alone were two completely different things, weren’t they? The tiny speck of conscience he didn’t even know he still had poked at him again and again.

…Wait. Isn’t it already too late to avoid getting involved entirely?

If so…

Then wouldn’t it be better to help him adjust to kindergarten so he could find someone else to depend on besides Yua?

After that, Yua could naturally create distance, living as if he were there and not there until graduation. He only needed to endure until the leaves fell and the first snow arrived.

Then the main bottom and the main top could be happily together, and Yua could quietly watch from a distance and pick up whatever crumbs fell.

That doesn’t sound bad.

Damn. I must be a genius.

Had he thought rationally, he would have realized the whole chain of thought was nothing but nonsense and self-justification. Unfortunately for him, Yua had no mental space to notice that.

He intended to help, but he didn’t intend to go over and help directly. Yua quickly rolled his eyes. His goal was to create distance, so what was the point in walking up to him himself? He needed a solution. Otherwise, he would definitely be dragged into this for real. Just from how the main bottom followed him around like a goldfish poop after exchanging a few words, the conclusion was obvious.

Found it!

Yua spotted a fork-integrated spoon used by the class of five-year-old kids tucked away in a corner, and mentally shouted, Eureka. Quietly rising from his seat, he made sure not to get noticed and grabbed the spoon. Then he stealthily approached the teacher.

“Seonsaeng-nim, this… um, could you give it to him instead of me? I think he is crying because he can’t use chopsticks….”

“Oh my goodness… Yua came because he was worried about Suyeok? I was too busy to notice. I’m sorry.”

At Yua’s request, the teacher crouched down to match his eye level. Stroking Yua’s head with genuine apology, she didn’t seem to be an entirely irresponsible teacher after all.

The teacher accepted the spoon Yua handed over and said, “Yua. I’m sorry to ask this, but… if Suyeok is playing alone, could you play with him sometimes? If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to, and I’m not forcing you. Or, if other kids try to fight with him like earlier, just come tell me. That alone is fine.”

Hmm, an extremely uncomfortable request. But wasn’t she just trying to dump the job on him? Yua scrunched his nose.

But since he understood how she felt, he reluctantly nodded.

Anyway, if he were going to help secretly, observing was inevitable. Since he was doing that already, playing spy and reporting if conflict arose wasn’t hard.

Besides, even if Yua’s motive was nothing more than scheming to live an easy and peaceful life, it was probably different for the teacher. She couldn’t stay glued to the main bottom’s side, and if she kept taking care of him while he struggled to get along with other kids, he might become overly dependent. Especially if this situation continued for months, just like in the original, who knew what would happen.

For now, preventing fights was the best option for both Yua and the teacher.

Even knowing that…

Clatter, clatter.

The pitiful sight of the tear-streaked face awkwardly practicing picking up food with the fallen chopsticks kept sticking in his mind. He thought that perhaps this was something unavoidable.